DoubleLine Portfolio Manager Samuel Lau and Quantitative Analyst Eric Dhall survey the markets’ July 22-26 scoreboard for stocks (0:59), fixed income (3:01) and commodities (4:29) before turning to the week’s macro news (5:54). Macroland produced an unequivocally robust preliminary estimate for second quarter GDP. This first of three GDP estimates for each quarter, Eric cautions, is “the least accurate because of revisions. That said, it was a home run, came in at 2.8% quarter-over-quarter annualized real, which is fantastic relative to the estimate of 2.0%.” Noting personal consumption “contributed 1.6% of that 2.8% GDP annualized,” Sam notes, “certainly the consumers are in there, really pulling their weight.” Sam and Eric, however, cautioned not to be mesmerized by the rear-view mirror of macro statistics. Looking through the windshield at the road ahead (17:41), Sam and Eric will be watching July 29-Aug. 2 for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller house price index updates through May and JOLTS job openings for June (Tuesday); the FOMC rate policy meeting and above all Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s news conference (Wednesday); ISM manufacturing for July (Thursday); and the “Pizza Friday data,” i.e., the verdict of the markets on the news of the week.
Mr. Lau joined DoubleLine in 2009. He is a Strategist on the Fixed Income Asset Allocation (FIAA) Committee and a contributing member on the Global Asset Allocation and Macro Committees. Mr. Lau is a Portfolio Manager on DoubleLine’s strategic commodity strategy while working in portfolio management and trading for derivatives-based and multi-asset strategies, including DoubleLine's Shiller Enhanced CAPE®, Shiller Enhanced International CAPE®, Real Estate and Income, and Multi-Asset Trend strategies. He also co-hosts the Sherman Show (Twitter @ShermanShowPod, ShermanShow@Doubleline.com) and Monday Morning Minutes (Twitter @DLineMinutes, Minutes@Doubleline.com) podcasts. Prior to DoubleLine, Mr. Lau was a Vice President at TCW where he worked under Jeffrey Gundlach as a Research Analyst in the Mortgage Group. He holds a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
Mr. Dhall joined DoubleLine in 2013. He is a Quantitative Analyst on the Macro Asset Allocation team where he works with portfolio management performing analysis and trading for derivatives-based and multi-asset strategies. Mr. Dhall’s research and analysis has contributed to the team’s development of DoubleLine’s smart-beta suite of strategies. Prior to DoubleLine, he worked at Capital Group performing quantitative analysis in fixed income. Prior to Capital Group, Mr. Dhall was an instructor in finance at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a research instructor at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. Previous to that, he worked in International Finance at Gulf Machinery company. Mr. Dhall holds a BS in Physics with a secondary emphasis in Business from the University of California, Berkeley and an MS in Financial Engineering from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
